Playing a Thief
by InkwellRaven
Summary: RobRae Week 2019 writing prompt "Secret Identity" Raven's behavior toward the thief has been uncharacteristic lately, then again, no one really knows much about him.


Legalities: I do not own or own rights to the Teen Titans

**Playing a Thief**

Raven ducked as Cyborg flew over her head to crash into the wall behind her. She turned and watched as he slid to the ground and lay in an unmoving heap. She could see Starfire unconscious beside him and Beast Boy still struggling with his x shaped bonds, shifting forms but still unable to free himself. She turned back to their assailant and stared down the skull caricature mask of the man several paces before her.

Red X took off down the corridor behind him and Raven pursued as quickly as she was able. She kept eyes on him as he attempted to lose her among the twists and turns of the hallways and she finally threw a wall of her soul self between him and the door to exit the building.

He turned to face her, pocketing the microchip that he had stolen and cocking his head at her in a taunting manner.

"Didn't think you were one to chase a man, Sunshine," he quipped.

"When I see one I'll let you know," she retorted. "_You_ are just a boy playing a dangerous game and you should quit while you're ahead."

He took several steps toward her, each slow and intentional as if waiting for her to back away with each step. But she stood her ground, crossing her arms over her chest and shifting her weight as if bored with his attempt at intimidation.

He finally stood before her, his height towering over her small frame.

"You have a better game in mind, Little Bird?"

A small smile started to spread across her face and she arched a delicate eyebrow at him, seemingly teasing him. Red X's countenance suddenly changed and he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her against the wall, holding her there. He hadn't meant to be as rough as he was, but he was starting to lose his cool. He berated himself. He may be in the Red X suit but he was still who he was inside.

He was still Robin.

But his girl was flirting with his criminal alter ego, not knowing he had managed to steal his suit back nor why he would have had to take on the persona again, and it bothered him more than he had imagined.

"What game are _you_ playing, Sunshine?" he demanded. "You let me flirt with you these last three times we've met, you make your own innuendos, and then you _flirt_ _back_. I know you and Robin have a thing, little bird, so _what_ is your game? What are you doing here?"

She laid her hands on his chest and smiled mischievously at him without saying a word.

Robin's blood was boiling. He hadn't had a choice in taking on the mantle of Red X again. He had to get ahead of the villain he was hunting, but the only way was to hold the tech he was searching for hostage. And he couldn't do that bound by the law as Robin . . . but Red X would have no problem with it.

The first time he stole after getting his suit back was to get attention, to get Red X's name back in the spotlight so he'd have the attention of the criminal underworld. He had gotten the attention of the Titans as well and the next heist he pulled they arrived to thwart him and he had been forced to become the cocky, cynical Red X that everyone knew. So he had mocked the guys and brazenly flirted with the girls. He had subdued everyone but Raven that first time, just like tonight, and was sure he was going to succeed in his mission until his blatant flirting had taken a turn. She had paused at something he said, he couldn't even remember what it was, before her jaw clenched and she swallowed hard, like she was making a decision. Then she had fired an innuendo right back at him. He hadn't seen it coming, but he had to play it as Red X, not Robin.

So he pushed down his shock and hurt and kept on with their bantor. She never backed down, giving as good as she got from him, even as he had leaned close to smell her hair and lay his hands on her hips. He hadn't been able to take any more and had made his escape soon after.

He stared at her now, waiting for her to reply to his demanding questions, watching as she ran her hands over his chest. She tossed her head, flipping her hair over her face, and he could see the two dark purple circles on the side of her neck.

It had been the night of the last time the Titans had encountered Red X that she had gotten those marks. Raven had allowed herself to get cornered again, her actions explained in no other way than seductive when they were interrupted by the other Titans. Robin as Red X took off and changed costumes before showing himself arriving at the end of the battle, the Titans not aware that the Red X they were chasing for the last part of that battle was simply a hologram. He had pulled this trick before, with Robin being the hologram instead of the other way around like that night, but he had the benefit of the Titans still thinking the suit was stolen from Robin in his favor this time. They had believed his lie.

The Titans had returned to the tower that night in silence, Red X having eluded them again. Robin had been dwelling on her actions when he cornered her again as Red X and he pushed Raven against the wall of his room as soon as she showed up for their nightly rendezvous. He had practically attacked her with fiery kisses and need. She had responded in kind, and it had only made him more angry. She had been seducing, as far as she knew, someone else, a criminal no less, not an hour ago and here she was with him as if nothing had happened.

It wasn't the first time they were rough and reckless with each other, she was actually rather into it, but when he bit and sucked on her neck that night it wasn't just being lost in passion. He was marking her. He was reminding her, himself, and the world that she was _his_. It was a disgustingly dominant gesture when he reflected on it, but he hadn't been able to help himself.

And here they were tonight, in the same situation as the previous encounters between the Titans and Red X, and it was pushing Robin to his rope's end.

"What are you doing, Raven?" he asked, darkly.

"Just having fun, X," she said in a low, toying voice, pressing her body flush against his.

Red X punched the wall above her head in anger and her face changed from flirting to exasperation before she reached up to grab the sides of his face.

"Gods, Robin," she said firmly, "This has gone too far. I know it's you."

He went still and finally reached up and removed the Red X mask to reveal his face to her. He stared at her perplexed, trying to find the words to articulate all the questions in his mind.

"How did you know?" he asked, managing words at last, his anger fizzling into confusion.

Raven looked up at him and shook her head. "You slipped up. Whenever it was that you managed to get the Red X suit back and started masquerading as him again, I can't be certain. But the first time I flirted back with you, just a few encounters ago, was after you called me Bluebird. Red X has had lots of names for me – Sunshine, Little Bird, Little One, Darlin' – but _you_ are the only one that has ever called me Bluebird."

"But _why_, Raven? _Why_ play this game with me, making me think that you were flirting with Red X behind my back? Raven, I was losing it."

She smiled a small, guilty smile as she looked up at him, laying her hands on his chest once more.

"I was angry," she admitted. "You were sneaking around as Red X again and lying to all of us about it. I blatantly _asked_ you about what was going on with Red X and you lied to my face. I was just . . . so angry about it. The first time, right after you called me Bluebird, it took me a moment to comprehend what was going on. And I flirted with you, hoping for a reaction; for you to come clean. You hesitated. It wasn't long, anyone else might have missed it, but you hesitated before you flirted back. I knew it was you.

"The next time we confronted 'Red X' he flirted with me, as was his usual, but knowing it was you and knowing how frustrated I was with what you were hiding . . . I flirted back again. I could _feel_ how much it upset you and I guess I lost myself to the need to get back at you for keeping your secrets. So, yes, I was playing a game with you. I was teasing you and watching you flirt back to keep your cover but trying desperately to hide the fact that it was bothering you so. I guess I felt you deserved that."

She cupped the side of his face with her hand.

"But I think I took it too far, Robin, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let my anger cloud my judgment and make me react like this."

He stared at her, his eyes darting between hers, before he finally sighed a huge sigh and rested his forehead against hers.

"God, Raven, you have no idea. I was losing my mind. You were saying these things to Red X and I was just . . . jealous. I was _so_ jealous. I didn't know how to react to being so out of control of myself like that."

He ran a gloved finger down her neck before circling the two dark marks that marred the perfection of her pale skin.

"These were no accident," he confessed, gently laying kisses on each one. "I wanted to mark you. I wanted to remind you that you were supposed to be with me. I'm sorry that I got so possessive. It's disgusting that I was capable of carrying out those intentions. And I'm sorry that I pushed you to this."

She wrapped her arms around him and her fingers drew small lazy patterns on his back.

"I'm sorry I took it so far," she whispered. "It started as me wanting to get back at you, but . . . seeing how much it bothered you to think I was with someone else made me feel so . . . _wanted_, and a part of me took advantage of that."

"You could take advantage of _me_ instead if you want, little Bluebird," he whispered, pressing himself against her and pinning her to wall with his body.

"Are you speaking for Red X or for Robin?"

Her breathing began to quicken as he stared down at her with a hunger in his eyes that she could _feel_ in her flesh.

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" he whispered in her ear. She shivered and he pulled back, grinning at her.

"It's time for me to go, Bluebird," he said, putting his Red X mask back on. "I have to get this chip and get going. But I'll tell you everything when you get back to the tower. I promise."

"No more secret identities?" she asked sternly.

"Not with you. I have nothing to hide from you."

He pulled up the bottom of the mask to reveal the lower half of his face, crushing his lips to hers in a searing kiss before stepping back and replacing his mask and turning to go.

"I thought I was losing you," he whispered shakily, over his shoulder.

"You can't lose me, Boy Wonder," she said back. "Now go, I'll cover for you with the others."

He saluted her with two fingers to his temple, cocky as ever, and made his exit. He was fleeing the scene utterly elated. The high from the theft combined with the high that he always got from kissing her and all of it tangled up with the relief that she was still his. He couldn't wait for the Titans to get back to the tower. He was going to ensure that tonight was a very memorable one for both him and his devious Bluebird.


End file.
